Falling For Vermont

The Colorful Times Are Many In A State For Any Season

October 04, 1998|By Story and photos by Alan Solomon, Tribune Staff Writer.

BURLINGTON, Vt. — The idea of this road trip -- last in our series of Great American Drives, at least for this year -- is tasting fall color in one of fall's most colorful states: Vermont.

But leaves are just part of the Vermont story. There's history here, and there are things to see and do that have nothing at all to do with this glorious season.

Which is good, because we may not see much color. We've been warned that it's a little early for Vermont. We'll take what we can get, and offer a hint of what you can expect later.

And we'll get to know some Vermonters, which is an experience.

So pack up those pancakes and waffles . . .

DAY 1

We're in Burlington and are greeted by soft rain. Soft rain and very, very green trees. And, this being after Labor Day and before the Leaf Peeper Onslaught, very, very few tourists.

With a population of about 40,000, Burlington is Vermont's largest city. Of the 40,000, 39,278 of them are junior English lit majors. This is a college town. The University of Vermont -- familiarly called "UVM" (derived, explained a local, "from a French or Latin term that means `University of the Green Mountains' or something like that") -- is here, plus several other colleges. Whenever possible, all of them gather on Church Street, a pedestrian mall lined with shops, restaurants and bars; the few indigenous adults (and the New York Rangers, who train here) seek refuge among fellow grownups at upscale restaurants near the Lake Champlain waterfront.

Being neither college students, indigenous nor goaltenders, we get out of town.

The Shelburne Museum is in the village of Shelburne, about 20 minutes south of Burlington. We're here mainly because it's raining, and museums are good places to visit in the rain. The downside is, the museum's exhibits are spread over several buildings spread over 45 acres.

We'll get wet.

The Shelburne is . . . this won't be easy. Imagine, if you can, a combination of Michigan's Greenfield Village, California's Hearst Castle and Wisconsin's House on the Rock.

A very, very rich woman named Electra Havemeyer Webb had this penchant for collecting things in a big way. Among the things was a 220-foot steamboat, the Ticonderoga, built in 1906, and a steam locomotive -- but most of the other things weren't quite that big: inkwells, quilts, toys, carriages, miniature circuses (very cool), furniture, dishes, fine art, fine decoys.

Eventually, even rich women run out of closet space, so the family bought this land, began picking up crumbling old New England houses and barns and jails (and one actual lighthouse), plopped them here and filled them with her things.

New Englanders adore the Shelburne.

Turns out other people had things too. One building, a sprawling 1840 Shaker shed, is full of hand tools. Entire walls are stacked with Frank Wildung's hand tools.

Says Deborah, a museum interpreter: "The guy obviously had a real passion for tools."

Around the corner from the Shelburne is Vermont Teddy Bears, a stuffed-animal factory. Tours cost a dollar. Vera, our guide (a junior English lit major), entertained the group with a plethora of unbearable puns and flying stuffings.

Later, we talk about great teddy bear questions ("One boy asked, `Did you know zebra mussels stick to them?' I didn't ask how he knew that.") and Vermonters.

"We tend to be generally nice people," she says. "Kind of laid back and very hospitable."

We'll see.

DAY 2

Mike sat on a bench at Burlington's Perkins Pier, enjoying the morning sunshine and the view of the marina and the passing ferries and, across Lake Champlain, the Adirondacks.

Mike, a New Yorker by birth and intensity, has lived and done business in Vermont for 25 years. He loves it.

"They don't want to do things the way other folks do," he says. "They want to do it the Vermont way -- if you can't do it Monday, you do it Tuesday. It's a nice way to do things."

A stop at the nearby Ethan Allen homestead (1780s) was obligatory. Ethan Allen -- who with his Green Mountain Boys did mostly good things during the Revolution -- is big in Vermont, which is why, today, motels, bowling alleys and dry cleaners are named for him.